[270] Autoimmunity, Inflammation and Atherosclerosis
The Clinical group carries out translational research aiming at the improvement of biological diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic follow-up of human diseases. Our projects target both discovery and validation of new biomarkers and the development of innovative analytical methods for clinical laboratories. Our research has applications in various medical areas, including cardiovascular diseases, nephrology and hematology. The group is affiliated to the Division of Laboratory Medicine of the Geneva University Hospitals.
In the field of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), we are exploring the role of humoral autoimmunity as a marker and a mediator of CVD, with a special focus on autoantibodies against apolipoprotein A-1. Driven by clinical results, we develop relevant in vitro and animal models to define the pro-inflammatory and pro-arythmogenic pathways elicited by those autoantibodies and to identify therapeutic compounds inhibiting their deleterious effects. Moreover, in collaboration with the industry, we aim at developing an autoantibody-based CV risk stratification tool and at identifying new therapeutic compounds, to improve personalized medicine in the field of CVD.
The group is also working on the development of mass spectrometry (MS) assays for protein analysis in clinical laboratories. We are developing methods for intact protein analysis (top-down MS) with activation by electron transfer dissociation (ETD), which allow characterizing structural variants (proteoforms) resulting from mutations or post-translational modifications. We are also developing targeted SRM (selected reaction monitoring) assays for quantifying clinically relevant proteins in body fluids and tissues.
Finally, research projects are conducted in the field of biobanking and biospecimen research. The aim is to define best practices for biological samples processing and storage as well as to identify quality control markers that can be use for biospecimen qualification in clinical research.